The Portland daily press., 1887-10-15
VICTORY OF THE cHARmER.
The Great Race In which a Bath
Ship Wins.

lDdtH lHneS.l
The great race from New York to the
Golden Gate, between the clipper ships Semi
mole and Charmer, has been won by the lat
ter, a telegram having been received here
announcing her arrival in the harbor of San
Francisco. The course. lying as it did around
Cape Horn, was computed at nearly 10000
miles in length.
The two ships left New York on the same
day and both went to sea on the same tide.
The owners disclaim that any race was in
tended, but their hackers put up money on
the result and have watched the ship news
columns ever since. The race was prompted
by the fact that the two vessels lay at adj
joining piers on the East river last spring,
and had completed their loading about the
same time. This was just before the 10th of
May. They were then tOwed down to the
harbor and anchored near the statue of Lib
erty, awaiting favorable wind for their de-
parture 1t was three days later on May 10,
that the wind shifted to the proper quarter,
and the tugs again took them in charge to
tow them to the lower bay.
1t was precisely 1852 O'Clock, according to
the official time taken by the observer at
Sandy Hook, when the Seminole crossed the
bar and squared away east by south for the
long voyage. At 11.20 o'clock the Charmer
followed over the bar and spread her wings
The Seminole drew p feet. The deep-laden
Charmer was "a feet in the water. During
the long voyage, the Charmer was not once
reported by arriving vessels, and the Semi
mole was once spoken" in lat. 20 degrees
south, longitude AZ degrees west, about 500
miles below Rio Janeiro. This was on July
10, when she was 63 days from New York.
An inspection Of the map will show the i'm
mense distance traversed
New York and San Francisco are on an
hnnf an doOrQag north of tho
tor and Cape Horn is nearly go degrees south
OF it, This makes a S0uthing and n0rthiug
of 200 degrees. But to get to Cape Horn the
vessels were compelled to go 40 degrees east
ward to pass Cape st. Rogue, the eastern
point of Brazil and as San Francisco is so
degrees to the west of Cape St. Rogue, the
casting and weStlng amount to 100 degrees
more, $50 degrees in all.
The Seminole is the older of the two YES
sells, having been constructed in 1865 at
Mystic. Conn, by William Mallory. She
is 1889 tons burden, 1876 feet long, Al feet
beam ana % feet depth of hold. Her own
erS are Giles 81 Co., fruit importers, of New
York. and she is sailed by Messrs. Sutton q
Co., under charter.
The Charmer was built in this city at the
yard of Hon. VIM. Rogers and was launched
September 22d, 1881. She is 22l feet long,
424 feet beam and 26 feet deep and registers
1881 tons. She was built for Nickerson q
Co. and others of Boston, but is now owned
by Louis Rosenfeld of San Francisco. The
Charmer was built, although of large dimen-
sions, on the same lines as the fast ships
Hercules and Highland Light, both built by
Mr. Rogers The construction of the Charm
er was under the supervision of Miles Merry,
master mechanic, with Geo. K. Litchfeld as
joiner, VIM. Mckenzie faster, John c. Stew
ems blacksmith, Samuel Q. Whitehouse
canlker, Frank Palmer rigger.
The Charmer was built from a model by
VIM. Pattee, the noted draughting architect
of this city, Her model, although she is
called a clipper is considerable departure
from the old standard. She was built to
provide more carrying room, and is broader
and fuller under the water line. She is
handsome craft, being long and low, with
tall slender masts, and is reckoned a first
class ship.
Each ship took complement Of about Is
men, Is of them before the mast. Their car
goes were about alike. Some idea of its va
riety can be derived from the fact that it lit
orally comprised everything from railroad
bars TO tOOthpicks.